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Print This StoryMissile Mistaken For Meteor, UFO
Streak In Sky Visible Throughout Western U.S.
UPDATED: 4:20 p.m. EDT September 20, 2002
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- An interesting sight Thursday night took many people in the Bay area by surprise. It was a mysterious light streaking across the sky, leaving a trail of vapor.
From South San Jose to Willow Glen, people out enjoying the warm late summer evening speculated about what they saw in the night sky. Was it an airplane, terrorist attack, falling star? 
Nobody knew it was an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base until it was long gone. The test missile was headed for the Kwajalein Missile Range in the western chain of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It traveled 4,200 miles in 30 minutes.
The military says it was a perfect launch
"We do this two or three times a year, but because the weather was so perfect we decided to launch it early," said Vandenberg spokeswoman Kelly Gabel.
As a result, people were still awake to see it, and although the sun had set over the western United States, sunset was recent enough that sunlight below the horizon glinted off unspent fuel particles and water droplets.
The next unclassified missile launch, according the Vandenberg Air Force Base Web site, is in December, when two Defense Department payloads will be sent into orbit.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Nobody knew it was an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base until it was long gone. The test missile was headed for the Kwajalein Missile Range in the western chain of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It traveled 4,200 miles in 30 minutes.
The military says it was a perfect launch
"We do this two or three times a year, but because the weather was so perfect we decided to launch it early," said Vandenberg spokeswoman Kelly Gabel.
As a result, people were still awake to see it, and although the sun had set over the western United States, sunset was recent enough that sunlight below the horizon glinted off unspent fuel particles and water droplets.
The next unclassified missile launch, according the Vandenberg Air Force Base Web site, is in December, when two Defense Department payloads will be sent into orbit.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
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